United States v. Lopez
E7030
United States v. Lopez is a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court case that marked the first time in decades the Court struck down a federal law for exceeding Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause, signaling a revival of limits on federal regulatory authority.
All labels observed (5)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T33107 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: United States v. Lopez Context triple: [Commerce Clause, limitedByCase, United States v. Lopez]
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A.
Arizona v. United States
Arizona v. United States is a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited state authority over immigration enforcement by affirming broad federal power in this area.
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B.
McCulloch v. Maryland
McCulloch v. Maryland is an 1819 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed federal supremacy over the states and upheld the implied powers of Congress under the Constitution.
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C.
Wickard v. Filburn
Wickard v. Filburn is a landmark 1942 U.S. Supreme Court case that dramatically expanded federal regulatory power by holding that even purely local, non-commercial activity could be regulated under the Commerce Clause if it had a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
-
D.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal constitutional right to abortion.
-
E.
Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States is an 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the distinction between protected religious belief and regulable religiously motivated conduct, holding that the Free Exercise Clause does not excuse individuals from compliance with otherwise valid criminal laws such as those banning polygamy.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: United States v. Lopez Target entity description: United States v. Lopez is a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court case that marked the first time in decades the Court struck down a federal law for exceeding Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause, signaling a revival of limits on federal regulatory authority.
-
A.
Arizona v. United States
Arizona v. United States is a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited state authority over immigration enforcement by affirming broad federal power in this area.
-
B.
McCulloch v. Maryland
McCulloch v. Maryland is an 1819 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed federal supremacy over the states and upheld the implied powers of Congress under the Constitution.
-
C.
Chiafalo v. Washington
Chiafalo v. Washington is a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case that unanimously upheld states’ authority to penalize or replace “faithless electors” who do not vote in line with their state’s popular vote in presidential elections.
-
D.
Wickard v. Filburn
Wickard v. Filburn is a landmark 1942 U.S. Supreme Court case that dramatically expanded federal regulatory power by holding that even purely local, non-commercial activity could be regulated under the Commerce Clause if it had a substantial effect on interstate commerce.
-
E.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal constitutional right to abortion.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
U.S. Supreme Court case
ⓘ
landmark case ⓘ |
| appealedFrom | United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
Commerce Clause jurisprudence
ⓘ
constitutional law ⓘ federalism ⓘ |
| arguedDate | 1994-11-08 ⓘ |
| chiefJusticeAtDecision | William H. Rehnquist ⓘ |
| citation | 514 U.S. 549 ⓘ |
| concurringOpinionBy |
Anthony M. Kennedy
ⓘ
Clarence Thomas ⓘ |
| constitutionalProvisionInterpreted |
Commerce Clause
ⓘ
Necessary and Proper Clause ⓘ Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ
surface form:
Tenth Amendment (federalism principles)
|
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decadeContext | Rehnquist Court federalism revival ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1995-04-26 ⓘ |
| definedCategoryOfCommercePower |
activities that substantially affect interstate commerce
ⓘ
channels of interstate commerce ⓘ instrumentalities of interstate commerce, or persons or things in interstate commerce ⓘ |
| dissentingOpinionBy |
David H. Souter
ⓘ
John Paul Stevens ⓘ Ruth Bader Ginsburg ⓘ Stephen G. Breyer ⓘ |
| fullName |
United States v. Lopez
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
United States v. Alfonso Lopez, Jr.
|
| holding |
United States v. Lopez
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 exceeds Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause
|
| issue | Whether Congress exceeded its Commerce Clause power by enacting the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 ⓘ |
| joinedByInMajority |
Anthony M. Kennedy
ⓘ
Antonin Scalia ⓘ Clarence Thomas ⓘ Sandra Day O’Connor ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | federal ⓘ |
| lawStruckDown | Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q) ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy | William H. Rehnquist ⓘ |
| originatingCourt | United States District Court for the Western District of Texas ⓘ |
| petitioner |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| reasoningSummary |
Allowing regulation of non-economic activity like gun possession would convert the Commerce Clause into a general police power
ⓘ
Possession of a gun in a local school zone is not an economic activity that substantially affects interstate commerce ⓘ The statute contained no jurisdictional element tying the regulated activity to interstate commerce ⓘ |
| reporter | United States Reports ⓘ |
| respondent | Alfonso Lopez, Jr. ⓘ |
| significance |
Clarified categories of activity Congress may regulate under the Commerce Clause
ⓘ
First time in decades the Supreme Court invalidated a federal statute as exceeding Congress’s Commerce Clause power ⓘ Marked a revival of judicially enforced limits on federal regulatory authority ⓘ |
| subsequentCitationIn |
Gonzales v. Raich
ⓘ
United States v. Morrison ⓘ |
| volume | 514 ⓘ |
| vote | 5–4 ⓘ |
| year | 1995 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: United States v. Lopez Description of subject: United States v. Lopez is a 1995 U.S. Supreme Court case that marked the first time in decades the Court struck down a federal law for exceeding Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause, signaling a revival of limits on federal regulatory authority.
Referenced by (20)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
United States v. Morrison
this entity surface form:
United States v. Alfonso Lopez, Jr.
this entity surface form:
The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 exceeds Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause
Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution
→
citedIn
→
United States v. Lopez
ⓘ
subject surface form:
Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990
subject surface form:
Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990
this entity surface form:
United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)
→
heldUnconstitutionalIn
→
United States v. Lopez
ⓘ
subject surface form:
Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990
subject surface form:
Alfonso Lopez Jr.
subject surface form:
Alfonso Lopez Jr.
this entity surface form:
United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
subject surface form:
United States v. Morrison